Fei Liu

Ph.D. student Fei Liu, 26, enrolled at UAlbany “because I wanted to do something different” in the field of chemistry. The Susan Van Horn Shipherd ’64 Women in Science Scholarship will certainly afford the Jinan, China, native that opportunity: “With Susan’s help, I will be able to attend a conference in Seattle” to present research on the structure of RNA. The experience, added Liu, a graduate of China Agricultural University, “will give me more ideas about my projects and help me a lot with my research.”

Susan Van Horn Shipherd '64

When UAlbany’s Initiatives For Women program started, Susan Van Horn Shipherd liked the idea of establishing a scholarship fund to assist women science majors. However, “it was $10,000 to start an endowment; I said there was
no way I could do it.” Told that she didn’t have to make the donation in one lump sum, “I gave the money over five years.” And she’s pleased that she did: “The [scholarship] recipients have been marvelous.”

Shipherd is grateful to the “very passionate professors” who prepared her well for her career. They included the Department of Biological Sciences’ Dr. Fred Truscott, who figures in one of her favorite anecdotes.

“When I began as a salesperson for Krackeler Scientific, the University was one of my accounts. I called on Dr. Truscott and asked: ‘Do you remember me? I think I got an A in your course.’ ‘No, you didn’t,’ he replied; ‘I remember every A I ever gave, and you weren’t one of them.’ He had a book in his drawer containing names and grades from the 1960s. And he was right!” Shipherd recalled with a grin.